Do you think you could ever "outgrow" Buffy?

[Kemy]

I've been a Star Trek fan for 18 years, if I have children they'll be third generation trekkies. I've been a Sonic the Hedgehog fan for 17 years and am waiting for the new game to get here in the post. By comparison I've only been a Buffy fan for 11 years and am collecting Season 8 as its released so nope, don't see myself outgrowing it anytime soon.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I can agree with Kemy. Any major show I've watched so far I've never really outgrown. Maybe I don't wtach it intesely after some time, but that doesn't mean I don't like the show anymore. And then I usually have these periods where I rewatch a lot of old shows I haven't seen in a long while, so there my interest gets rekindled. So nope, I don't think I will ever outgrow Buffy.

 

[Kali]

Not a sodding chance. Really.

 

[Veyron]

I can't see myself out-growing Buffy either as like The Simpsons or Futurama every time I watch an episode I see something I missed last time around or I get a joke that I didn't get on a previous viewing. As for it being childish, no, I wouldn't say so. Like The Simpsons the show can be appreciated on multiple levels - kids watch The Simpsons because it's a cartoon, I as an adult watch The Simpsons because it's packed full of adult content that the bairns just simply don't get -- yet! The same goes for Buffy.

Buffy is multifaceted and that's the secret to it's prolonged success and what seems to me to be an ever growing fan base is proof of the shows longevity - everyone from those who can remember the show from the original air-dates to those who've just discovered the show via the season eight comics.

Either way, it's all good stuff and I shan't be giving up on Buffy any time soon.

 

[Joyce Summers]

I can't see myself growing out of Buffy as, like a lot of you have already mentioned, that suggests that the show is for a certain age group and so at one point you can become to old for it, which I know for a fact will never happen. However, I have noticed that the older I get and the more things that happen and go on in my life the less I have time to watch it. I mean when I was a teenager when it was just beginning I watched every episode as it aired, tried to find out all the spoilers I could, bought the magazines etc etc and the moment I could buy the DVDs (I never bought VHS because I saw how many videos it would require and though nyyyyyeh) I was off to the store, plastic in hand. And the entire season still has pride of place on my dvd cabinet, the magazines are still nestled safely away...somewhere....probably back in L.A but either way, they're still there and I still manage to visit on here at least once every two days to obsess with other Buffy Fanatics.

So in that sense I'm still just as obsessed as I was back then, but now...time to watch it is a problem. My life has started to take over more and more as each year goes by and true, I start to forget about the show and briefly, BRIEFLY, wonder why I used to be so gung-ho about it. But the moment I catch a re-run on TV by chance either through channel surfing or having the TV on in the background and I am drawn right back in as I rediscover the brilliance of it and I am for that one-hour-slot as obssessed and engrossed as I was first time around when I was sixteen years old.

So I don't think I'll ever grow out if it, but I think it will eventually stop being a part of my everyday life. But it will always be My Favorite Show of All Time and I have huge plans to create Second Generation Buffyphiles in my family....well technically third generation since my Mom has been a huge fan from the beginning and still is. Yes, my Mom has a small amount of cool about her, haha. I mean she definitely hasn't grown out of it. I mean she's 53 years old and she said to me the other day at Thanksgiving as regards some friends of mine "Ooh you don't think he's the Xander to her Buffy do you?"

So I think once you're in this club, you're in for life regardless whethere you're a....practising or non-practising fan. Buffy Fandom is NOT just for Christmas.

 

[InsaneMystic]

While I did a bit of "growing out" of being a Trekkie, I credit that to the quality of the Trek franchise going downhill so much - but I'll always love Spock and Data, no matter how much Voyager and, most especially, Enterprise made me shake my head in shame for ever spending lots of money on Trek fan literature.

With Buffy, I don't see it happening any time soon, as there was no such downhillization (ok, BS7 and AS5 may not have been the top of either series, but both still were great entertainment). Besides, there's still loads of original version unexploredness for me (except for S7, I have all of Buffy in the German dub, and none of Angel on tape or DVD yet, at all) and intend to change that over time (money issues stopping me from doing so any faster). And, of course, just looking at Aly Hannigan and Amy Acker is bound to bring me back for a long time, too. 😀

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

And yeah, in reality, I don't have as much time to re-watch it as I'd like... But I keep the addiction alive on here 🙂 Love you guys!

 

[Ulrikke]

I can only add to what pretty much everyone has already said. Buffy is not the sort of show you 'outgrow' - at least not in 'I-can't-believe-I-ever-watched-that' sense (the one I get with shows like Charmed and 7th Heaven - no offense intended to anyone). Life does happen though, and we don't always have time to obsess about it the way we used to. Lucky for me I do still have the time. :biggrin:
If you do consider yourself to have 'outgrown' Buffy then perhaps you only ever saw the surface of it (pretty people, monsters, action etc.), because, with all the amazing characters and layers Buffy has, I can't imagine ever getting tired of it.

 

[sk]

I watched Buffy the first time fairly recently (especially compared to most people here) at an age of 30+.
So it's not that I won't like it anymore because I grow up or something... 🙂

It is also so that I usually don't get tired of things that I've decided that I like.
When I discover something that I really like, which doesn't happen that often, I have a tendency to stick to it.
I still listen to the same music I did 20 years ago, still watch Friends regulary 10 years after I fell in love with that show etc.

So, no I don't think I will "outgrow" or get tired of Buffy.
I might get busy or starts to get obsessed about some other shows or whatever. But that doesn't mean my love for Buffy becomes any less.

/SK

 

[Ripper 08]

my sister is asking me this all the time lolz...

my response each time is NO!

out grow buffy you must be joking, i think i will watch buffy till the day i die!

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Of course i could outgrow it; though I think the honest answer would be tire of it. I dont think I could be as enthused about Buffy ten or 15 years from now. Only reason I am interested to the point I am in it is because of this forum. I figure in a few years or so I will have either worn out my welcome or have tired of this place, and maybe shortly after that I can see myself 'outgrowing' Buffy. THOUGH! that being said.. I do enjoy strapping on my ole parachute pants from time to time (and I mean the REAL ones, not the baggy hammer ones) and putting on some Mantronik (and you know fresh is STILL the word), so one never knows.

 

[Relic]

I don't think I'll ever get to a point where i would not watch it or discuss it if it was on or talked about....25 years from now I might not actively seek it out like I still do now but I think I'll allways care about it. It's like Star wars to me, I still talk about it on forums.

I use to feel close to the same about morrowind though, and now...mehhh. Coures maybe I just needed a break from it. I don't know. maybe I'll go back to morrowind too. it's not like star Wars was my only intrest or toy selection growing up....but it has stuck with me the longest. (and thats old school star wars more so than the new stuff.)

Time will tell I guess, but my gut tells me that for me Buffy is like another Starwars. Years latter if this forum is still around (or one 'retro' but like this one) I will be there too from time to time, (and not just for the people but the topics.)

Odds are i won't average 3 post a day but I'll still talk about stuff to willing parties new and old, repeating as if it matters all the things allready told...
(vague Gin Blossoms hat tip)

 

[cryptwarmer]

I'm in the thick of the obsession now...so it's hard to imagine, but I know I've been there with other shows and moved on. I mean, I still go back to them from time to time, but the frantic obsession of my first crush, the need to be immersed in it has faded.

I think that certain shows meet certain issues in our lives, and sometimes we work that out, and move onto something else, in that sense we outgrow the issue that made the show so significant to us, but not really the show itself.

And sometimes revisiting it, brings it all back!

Only time will tell.

 

[Uncle Rory]

To answer this questeion I guess one needs to ask themselves why they like it in the first place. I for one love the ICON that is Buffy. I love the Subtext, the references to (directly or indirectly) everything from Star Trek and other assorted pop-culture to Classical Literature, mythoology, history etc.

Everytime I watch Buffy I discover something new that I didn't see before, look at it from a new perspective and find some parallel to some other book, movie, play, show etc.

And I'm long past the age of outgrowing anything. (18 with 27 years of experience) So no, I'll never outgrow it.

Uncle Rory
PS. the person who blaspmed will probably rediscover the Show some time soon. They probably watched when they were too young.

 

[AgentX7k]

It hasn't so far and I don't anticipate it ever will. I mean it's like your first love, you don't forget it. I'm still not bored with it, mostly because it's the only thing I know back-to-front and can discuss on command.

 

[T.I.P]

I think its possible i could, as Sco said, 'tire' would be a better word. Its happened to me before, and i didnt watch a single ep for about 5 years. But when you grow tired of it then dont watch it for that long, at some point the urge to watch it again comes back